INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH CHAPTER 18

This land has been called the “land of flies and mosquitoes. This land was crisscrossed with rivers and inhabited by the descendants of Cush. They planned an attack on Jerusalem but God stepped in and pruned them and left them like fodder for the wintering of animals. This people from the crisscrossed rivers will be bringing a tribute to Jehovah in his temple at Jerusalem.

EXPOSITION TO ISAIAH CHAPTER 18

1Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:

The prophet directs his attention to the land that is filled with insects which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia. It is a message of doom to the land filled with flies and mosquitoes.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT MAKE THE CASE:

Isa 20:3-6 And the LORD said, Like as my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and wonder upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia; So shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners, and the Ethiopians captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, even with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt. And they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their expectation, and of Egypt their glory. And the inhabitant of this isle shall say in that day, Behold, such is our expectation, whither we flee for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria: and how shall we escape? Read: Isa 31:1-4; 2Ki 19:9; Eze 30:4-9; Zep 2:12; Zep 3:10

2That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!

Their ships or skiffs were built out of bulrushes (papyrus) and they sailed up and down the Nile and sent their messengers or ambassadors to other nations by means of their papyrus boats. “They are described as terrible from their beginning.” This nation was inhabited by a people that was tall and dreaded far and near by other nations.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT ILLUMINATE THE TEXT:

Eze 30:9-12 In that day shall messengers go forth from me in ships to make the careless Ethiopians afraid, and great pain shall come upon them, as in the day of Egypt: for, lo, it cometh. Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also make the multitude of Egypt to cease by the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon. He and his people with him, the terrible of the nations, shall be brought to destroy the land: and they shall draw their swords against Egypt, and fill the land with the slain.And I will make the rivers dry, and sell the land into the hand of the wicked: and I will make the land waste, and all that is therein, by the hand of strangers: I the LORD have spoken it. Read: 2Ch 12:2-4; 2Ch 14:9-10; 2Ch 16:8

3All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye.

All people who live in this world─when you see the battle flag lifted upon the mountain top and the rams horn being blown, hear ye.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT INDORSE THE TEXT:

Isa 5:26 And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly:

Isa 7:18 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.

4For so the LORD said unto me, I will take my rest, and I will consider in my dwelling place like a clear heat upon herbs, and like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.

The LORD told Isaiah that he would sit serene and quietly as a person resting from the heat on a hot summer day or to change the figure of speech like a cloud or dew in the heat of harvest. While their army was advancing God would watch quietly from His temple in Jerusalem.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT LEND EVIDENCE TO THE TEXT:

Psa 132:13-14 For the LORD hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation. This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it.

Isa 26:21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.

5For afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and take away and cut down the branches.

Before the attack begins─while their plans are ripening─God will cut off the tendrils with his pruning hooks and use his loppers to cut the branches.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT DEMONSTRATE THE TEXT:

Isa 17:11 In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.

6They shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth: and the fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them.

Their army will be left for vultures and wild animals to winter on.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT AUTHENTICATE THE TEXT:

Isa 14:19 But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase trodden under feet.

Isa 34:1-3 Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it. For the indignation of the LORD is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies: he hath utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter. Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their carcases, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood.

7In that time shall the present be brought unto the LORD of hosts of a people scattered and peeled, and from a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled, to the place of the name of the LORD of hosts, the mount Zion.

This nation that was mighty and terrible from its beginning will bring gifts to the Lord as a tribute.

CROSS REFERENCE SCRIPTURES

THAT ESTABLISH THE CERTAINTY

OF THE TEXT:

Isa 45:14 Thus saith the LORD, The labour of Egypt, and merchandise of Ethiopia and of the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine: they shall come after thee; in chains they shall come over, and they shall fall down unto thee, they shall make supplication unto thee, saying, Surely God is in thee; and there is none else, there is no God.

2Ch 32:23 And many brought gifts unto the LORD to Jerusalem, and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah: so that he was magnified in the sight of all nations from thenceforth. Read: Psa 68:29-31; Zep 3:10; Act 8:27-28